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Dawnstar

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Everything posted by Dawnstar

  1. Dawnstar
    I didn't have a problem seeing the peasants on Friday, albeit I was sat front row stalls, but I was puzzled by their second appearance. I recall in the UUB production them being there at the start but not their reappearance being chased later by the wilis, while I don't recall them at all in the RB production. Is this my memory being useless or do they make an extra appearance in this production? It seems a bit much having not only Hilarion but also half a dozen other men killed in a single night! Still no cast list up for this afternoon. I'm on a train to London in the hope Oliveira & Frola are indeed on but I haven't yet bought a ticket in case they're not. I really hope there will still be tickets available by the time the cast is confirmed.
  2. Dawnstar
    I was pleased to see in the art gallery section if the Guardian article the suggestion not to use an audio guide. I never do myself so it's nice to feel vindicated! Though I'm not sure it's really a point of etiquette in terms of adversely affecting others.
  3. Dawnstar
    Thanks. My brain, eyes & ears enjoyed it. If only I could have left my body at home!
  4. Dawnstar
    I have been ditering since last night about whether or not to post any curtain call photos as mine did not come out that well - while my eyes didn't have a problem with the Act II lighting my camera evidently did! - but as no-one else has posted any then here are some but please excuse the less than perfect focus, especially of some moving arms. Only Suzuki & Dowden got given flowers so presumably ENB is only presenting them to those making role debuts.
  5. Dawnstar
    Going by a number of his recent tweets, he certainly sounds unhappy about it. For example:
  6. Dawnstar
    Based on 2 of the 10 current Principals having danced Clara then at the moment 20%!
  7. Dawnstar
    That must be even more annoying if you've already seen them only 24 hours earlier, especially as the comments on here about last night don't indicate that it was the sort of earth-shattering performance that had audience members desparate to immediately see the dancers again. I can see why you're pleased to see a different Myrtha but I confess that personally I'm disappointed that McWhinney is the one dancer not reprising her role from last night as I'd like to see her so that would have been a slight consolation for me. Though I do like Suzuki too. And I would have been happy to see Wood for that matter. In fact the originally cast Choi is the only one of the possible Myrthas who I wasn't particularly interested in seeing (not that I have anything against her, I've just never seen her in any significant roles so have no opinion of her).
  8. Dawnstar
    Fortunately it evidently went right over my 7 year old head that it was supposed to be an orgy! All I vaguely remember are some Orientally attractive but skimpy costumes & possibly a gold-ish set, though I may be misremembering the latter.
  9. Dawnstar
    Sorry, one more thought. While we don't know the reason for both leads being replaced tonight it does seem more likely that it's due to Frola, as he's the one coming back from injury. If that is the case then I feel very sorry for Oliveira, if she's having to sit out a performance when she's okay, given I believe she is about 40 now so this may be her last opportunity to dance Giselle. @CCL Front row stalls, which I wouldn't have gone for if I'd known when I booked that I'd be having anxiety issues since an unobtrusive mid-show exit is not going to be possible. If you see anyone wearing both an FFP2 facemask & gloves indoors then that will probably be me.
  10. Dawnstar
    I did see Arrieta in Swan Lake last season. I thought he was very good.... but then I saw Frola a few days later & thought he was another level up! Thank you. I've deposited myself on the train to London at any rate. If I make it to London & as far as the interval then it'd be lovely to meet up, but at the moment I can't guarantee that I will. If the scheduled cast were guaranteed to dance on Sunday then I might think about getting a ticket but what I absolutely don't want is to get one (and the offers seem to have ended so I'd have to pay £75+ for a decent view) only to read another cast change tweet from ENB on Sunday morning! "Please note that" does come over as a little offhand. It would be nice if it was a bit more apologetic or gave some sort of reason. Something like "We are sorry that due to injury/illness dancers A, B & C are unable to perform tonight. We are grateful to dancers X, Y & Z for performing at short notice." I wonder if Watkin will make an announcement beforehand like O'Hare, or for opera Mears, do at the ROH.
  11. Dawnstar
    I thought it was Oliveira & Frola who did the rehearsal, rather than Khaniukova & Arrieta?
  12. Dawnstar
    I'm now dithering over whether or not to go tonight. Usually I'd always go to performance I'd booked regardless of cast changes but I'm still really struggling with the anxiety I've been suffering from since having a panic attack at Don Q at the end of October. I was going to basically force myself to go to Giselle because I so want to see Frola as Albrecht. But now he's not on then I'm not sure it's worth putting myself through all the stress.
  13. Dawnstar
    They've only gone & swapped almost all the lead cast for tonight. Yes, I know cast changes can happen at any time but after weeks of crossing my fingers for the scheduled cast I'm very disappointed to read this. Also if the dancers were already looking tired last night after their Nutcrackers then what are they going to be like tonight having to dance 2 nights in a row?
  14. Dawnstar
    Yes, that would have been the programme. I have no idea if it was the same dancers (some names I recognise, many I don't) or different ones though. I think we would have probably gone to a matinee so not the same performance as press night. And fortunately at 7 years old I wouldn't have noticed their technique anyway!
  15. Dawnstar
    He's still down for his other Lescauts & Des Grieux so hopefully not... Now tonight's cast sheet is up I see that Gartside is doing Dr Stahlbaum. I think his first appearance on stage this season? It does make it look slightly odd to have "Gary Avis replaces Bennet Gartside" & then Gartside appearing a few lines lower!
  16. Dawnstar
    I see that ENB have now added a cast sheets page for Giselle to their website. I'm not sure why they're choosing to have a different page for each production rather than an ongoing cast sheets page like the ROH & BRB have, but anyway: https://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/daily-performance-casting-mary-skeapings-giselle/
  17. Dawnstar
    So what level friend do peple have to be to guarantee getting the standing tickets they want? Given how big the cost jumps are between each Friends level, there must be a danger of someone getting to the stage where they're spending so much on membership that it'd be cheaper to buy seats when public booking opens than to pay for early access to standing tickets. When trying to check availability just now for a Manon performance I was surprised to have to queue, albeit only for a minute. Usually I find it's only for the first hour or so after booking opens that one may still encounter a queue.
  18. Dawnstar
    Apologies for the double post but while looking up something else on the ROH website I've just spotted that Hirano is being replaced by Braendsrod tonight. So the latter is now onto his 3rd SPF of the run! Since the Manon casting update yesterday show Hirano replaced for his first Lescaut on 19th he's presumably either injured or has an illness that's more than just a cold or covid. I wonder whether Braendsrod is getting these extra performances because as a Soloist he's more likely to be in the building, perhaps expecting to dance another role, than many of the Principal men.
  19. Dawnstar
    On the handful of occasions when I've given flowers I've bought them in person but I still find it a bit of a lottery because even though I can see what my bouquet looks like I worry that it might look pathetic & cheap besides other bouquets presented at the same performance as I can't afford the huge bouquets that one sometimes sees dancers given. I was relieved that when I gave a dancer flowers during this Nutcracker run my bouquet was about the same size as the other bouquet the dancer received.
  20. Dawnstar
    Having just read this, I am surprised that the penultimate paragraph begins "By contrast, Giselle, the wili, will dance again – will rise each night with all the other wilis." The synopses for Giselle that I have read in recent years have, as far as I can recall, indicated that by saving Albrecht & defeating Myrtha Giselle has also saved herself from being a wili & will be able to rest in peace in her grave. I found the essay very interesting but also a little depressing, given the criticisms of the Wright & Skeaping productions which are the main ones available in the UK. It's not as if British ballet viewers can pop off to Russia at present to see their versions! While I am not generally interested in updated versions of classics, I can't help being intrigued by the production described "where Albrecht was a bisexual line-dancing teacher from Bratislava"!
  21. Dawnstar
    It does look like Sadler's Wells is free for the dates either side... However given how many tickets are unsold for the scheduled performances at the moment they'd probably say No!
  22. Dawnstar
    In the article in today's Links on the Festival of New Choreography I see it says "including with Joseph Toonga who undertakes this Season's Royal Ballet Choreographic Residency and will have a new work featured on the Main Stage next Season." My heart sank upon reading it. At this rate next season is going to be entirely made up of either modern works I don't want to see and classics that I can't afford to get tickets to see!
  23. Dawnstar
    I think it's the same for the cheapest side stalls circle tickets. Up until the last season or two I very rarely had any difficulty getting them but now....
  24. Dawnstar
    The website didn't do anything unexpected for me but by the time I'd spent 10 minutes in a queue I there weren't any tickets I could afford in the stalls circle left for 2 of the 3 Swan Lakes I wanted to book for. I knew from comments on here that I might not be able to get anything for Nunez/Muntagirov but I am very disappointed to not be able to get anything for Kaneko/Muntagirov on my birthday. There are so few seats in the stalls circle that I can now afford. A couple of years ago I could have gone up a price bracket but now the next price bracket up is over £40 more & I can't justify spending £118 on a restricted view bench seat.
  25. Dawnstar
    Yes, if she'd had a matinee in Birmingham then I would have considered going, as that's under 3 hours on the train. I'm slightly surprised that not everyone is performing in Birmingham, considering that has the most performances. In fact, looking at the cast combinations for the different venues, anyone who wanted to see every pairing of dancers would have to visit a minimum of 3 different venues with one being London. Or 2 venues, Birmingham & Plymouth, would cover all the BRB dancers minus Cojocaru. (No, I don't have anything better to do than to work this out!) Gittens/Bello - Southampton, Birmingham, Plymouth, Bristol, London Hirata/Dingman - Southampton, Birmingham, Salford, Sunderland Kurihara/Monaghan - Southampton, Birmingham, Sunderland, Plymouth, Bristol, London Mizutani/Morales - Birmingham, Salford, Sunderland, Bristol Shang/Maslen - Birmingham, Salford, Plymouth Parma/Chou - Salford, Plymouth, Bristol Downs/Feng - Sunderland, Plymouth Cojocaru/Dingman - London Hirata/Maslen - London
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